NC NAACP holds vigil outside state prison for criminal justice reform

SMITHFIELD, NC (WTVD) -- Perhaps the inmates out on the yard of Johnston County Correctional Institution Friday night could hear the small crowd singing spirituals on the other side of the razor-wire fence. But Dontae Sharpe's mother, Sarah, said her son knows in his heart.

"He's holding on. He knows we're out here," Sarah Blakely said.

Blakely was wearing her "Free Dontae Sharpe" sweatshirt as she stood with about two dozen others holding a vigil outside the prison in Smithfield - calling for the state to overhaul what they believe is a biased and unjust criminal justice system.

There's no physical evidence linking him to the crime; the state's only eyewitness recanted her testimony; and a former Greenville homicide detective who testified against Sharpe at trial, now says he believes Sharpe was wrongly convicted because of dubious testimony.

"(Police and prosecutors) framed him from the first day on," said NC NAACP Legal Counsel Alan McSurely. "Both (Attorney General) Josh Stein and Governor Cooper know it. And they're trying to figure out a way that they can get him out of jail right now without it looking bad for the state."

Sarah Blakely's son, Dontae Sharpe, has spent the past 24 yrs in prison for a murder he's always insisisted he did not commit. Tonight, Blakely joined @ncnaacp for a criminal justice reform candlelight vigil. We'll look at Sharpe's case at 11. #abc11pic.twitter.com/AKjsaUfkW8